Let me just say how absolutely disappointed I am by this event! This is the description as per the Sephora Website:

From a sun-kissed glow to an all-over tan, discover how to create a beautiful bronzed look with Too Faced. Learn application tips, and take home a FREE GIFT.

Lets begin with the FREE GIFT advertised. I get there and they tell me that I get the free gift only if I buy something that they apply on my face. Sephora that is not a free gift which would've been fine had the second part of this disappointment not happened.

Secondly I am going to implore Sephora to please hire individuals who actually know how to apply makeup if they are going to do on customers' faces. The SA that assisted me threw things on my face and made me look like BOO BOO the Clown by the time she was done. I ran out of the store as quickly as I could without purchasing anything at all. The whole point of events like this is to draw us in to possibly buying an item well this experience made me do just the opposite. Such a terrible experience! Ladies please let me know if you have experienced anything like this with SAs who don't know what they are doing and just pour makeup allllll over faces or if I am just going to the wrong Sephoras!

Thank you! That's all I'm trying to say. What really sucks is that I never learned how to apply bronzer =( and I reallyyyy wanted to learn. I know it isnt the easiest technique and just wished I would've walked away knowing a little more about it.

I feel like I have to add this....Sephora is a big store, that has many locations, and needs a LOT of staff so it would be impossible for them to only hire makeup artists/people who know what they are doing/etc and still meet their staff requirements. Plus, their focus is more on sales and not really makeup application/technique.

I agree however when Sephora has events that advertise coming in to the store to learn application and tips of bronzer/blush/eye makeup etc i would at least hope that in those instances the store takes time to train their employees to actually be able to do it. That was my experience I went into the store after RSVPing for the event expecting to learn how to apply bronzer and was made to look horrible. The whole point of having events like the one I went to is to sell a product, this seems counterproductive if the customers run out of the store because of how the product was applied. But lesson learned no more of these events for me lol.

Don't let it completely discourage you. Some times Sephora has events where professional makeup artist come in a do some makeup apps. I went to one where MUFE Makeup Artist showed how to properly apply concealer and a smokey eye. And they did a wonderful job. So look for events like that.

What you could also do, is call the store in advance and ask when a makeup artist will be visiting or working there, get a name and try to be there when they are there. Other than that, places like MAC or higher end stores like Saks/Neiman Marcos should have a makeup artist on at least *one* of the makeup counters.

Sorry about the experiences to think I was about to book a makeover for family portraits maybe Ill think twice now.. I did have a bad experience but it was at the MAC counter during the Barbie Line Launch I want to say like 2008.... I looked like a drag queen!

I've never let anyone touch my face. Partly because of the dirty hands and dirty brushes and party because I don't want to be pressured into buying something/interrogated about my life. Plus, I genuienley enjoy playing with testers/finding things on my own. And, I spray things with alcohol and use clean testers before I put anything on my face. I spend a lot of time/money on skincare/washing my hands/cleaning my brushes and none of all that will matter when my nice clear skin breaks out from a brush that has been used on 100's of people before its been used on me.

Its a hit or miss. If I hate it, I just smile and say "thanks, Im going to go look around a bit" then when they leave, take off the make up with the make up remover testers before going about my business.

My experience was nice at the one at the Pittsburgh Mills. First she showed me the different Too Faced bronzer options; (oh, she had started out by asking if I wanted to learn tricks about eyeshadow or bronzer.)

She showed me how to contour for day and for night, then how to do an all-over face bronzing look, then how to use the lighter shade in the palette to highlight my face. When she was done, she asked if I needed help with any other products and gave me my free sample, a Too Faced mascara. (I was hoping it would be a bronzing product.)

I browsed a little after she showed me the Too Faced bronzer I had preferred (Pink Leopard, $30) and the smaller size in the Beauty to Go section. I didn't end up buying anything, though, because I had just bought a new car two hours earlier!

Stinks you didn't have a good experience. I had a terrible experience when I went for my free VIB makeover at a different, freestanding Sephora. I asked for a smokey eye, she spent 20 minutes doing the most neutral makeup look on the planet.

I also had a similiar experience inside a JCP. I got my makeup done during my lunch hour (i worked at the mall) and when I got back to work my mangager told me my I looked like a "cheap hooker". But at my free standing Sephora, I have had nothing by GOOD experiences.

It is definitely a risk you take, allowing someone you don't know do your makeup. Once in a while, someone will do a fantastic job, but after my last experience I learned to be more wary:

I booked a cma at a sephora so that my makeup will be extra special for a job interview. Right away I noticed that she made my skin look cakey and flakey, despite my naturally super smooth skin. The sephora people assured me that she was 'professional' so I decided to trust them and I sat tight. My eyes were a disaster, similar to roxystar4's eyeshadow, but with eyeliner like 10 times as thick and winged out about 1 and 1/4 inches, no exaggeration. The other sephora associates told me I looked great but I could tell they did not think so.

BUT here's the clincher : in the hour and a half a waited until I got to a drugstore to buy makeup remover, TWO people thought I was a prostitute. And I was dressed super modestly, for a professional meeting so obviously it was the makeup.

Needless to say, I barely had time to fix my makeup before my appointment, and I am extremely disappointed that I spent $50.

I am also disgusted that the woman who did my makeup pressured me to write this awesome review on her iphone on the spot.

I am an extremely frequent sephora shopper - I am forever coming in and purchasing great hauls. But this has been a true let down...

I guess it really depends on the Sephora inside JCP. I gotta say, my local one is awesome! And they gave away the free gift just for coming in and having some of the Too Faced products applied. I ended up leaving knowing much more about bronzers then before (hello 3 & E! How did I not know about this before???), and I might have to go back and get the very pretty new pallet from Too Faced.